Hawaii Day 4 Pearl Harbor

It started sprinkling right when we pulled up to Pearl Harbor. Luckily it didn't last long and before we knew it there was one of those beautiful Rainbows Hawaii is famous for stretching across the harbor.


Before we could ride out to see the monument built over the USS Arizona, we had a tour of a submarine. The moral of that story is I don't care for any of my four sons joining the Navy. How clausterphobic could you get?? The sleeping arrangements alone with cots lined as high as four on tope of each other were making me anxious.
The memorial was impressive. I have been once before. I found it interesting that the survivors could also choose to have their creamated remains sunk and put inside the USS Arizona if they so chose. Divers carefully take the box down and put it safely inside the ship.

We talked with our kids a lot about WWII on this trip. I love world war II history and learning about it. We had recently watched "The Sound of Music" which has the start of the invasion of Austria by Hitler in it. So Carter and Hanna have been asking a lot of questions. It was cool to teach them about it and then to visit Pearl Harbor and show them why the United States was eventually pulled into the War and the place it all started.
The other interesting thing I found baffling was that the USS Arizona is still leaking oil. It sunk almost 70 years ago. The black dots and dark parts in the picture above are actually the oil.
After the USS Arizona Monument, we rode on buses to visit the USS Missouri or the "Mighty Mo" and have a tour. Again the moral of that story is my dear sons, please do not join the Navy. No offense to anyone who may be in the Navy, but my heart went out to them. The living conditions on these boats were not very good. It takes a very special person to be able to do this.

This quote by Douglass MacArthur in 1945 at the end of the war, really made me think. I pray we are living up to his Hope as a nation. And that we never have to relive similar horrific war times.

The group!
This is one of the trees we found so fascinating in hawaii. Its like the branches completely grow sideways. There are a lot of really cool trees and root systems there.